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Saturday, August 7, 2010

Sim City 4

We love this game or not, we must admit that the series will be aroused and Sim City always raises interest. The game management and strategy have always been loved by the public. While The Sims series is a huge success, Maxis in profits and returns with a fourth version of the game running a city, Sim City 4. The purchase is justified?

SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition

Minimum




  • Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP







  • Processor 500 MHz or + (Intel or AMD)







  • 128 MB of memory (RAM)







  • 1 GB Disk Space







  • 8X CD-ROM or +







  • Minimum 16 MB Graphics Card







  • DirectX 7 or +







  • Recommended Configuration




  • Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP







  • 1 GHz or + (Intel or AMD)







  • 256 MB of memory (RAM)







  • 3D Graphics card 32 MB or +






  • 1 GB Disk Space







  • 8X CD-ROM







  • DirectX 7 or +






  • Ideal configuration



  • Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP







  • 2 GHz or + (Intel or AMD)







  • 512 MB of RAM or more (RAM)







  • 3D Graphics card 64 or 128 MB







  • 1 GB Disk Space







  • 8X CD-ROM







  • DirectX 7 or +






  • Configuration for test



  • Windows XP Service Pack 1







  • Intel Pentium 4 2.26 @ 2.4 GHz







  • 1x512 MB DDR333 Winbond







  • MSI GeForce 4 Ti 4400 128 MB DDR







  • IBM Deskstar 80.0 GB ATA100 120GXP







  • Pioneer 16x40x TRAY







  • Direct X9 final






  • Note that the game is compatible with cards nVIDIA GeForce 2 nVidia TNT2, ATI Radeon 7500, ATI Radeon 8500, ATI Radeon 128.

    Latest

    In this fourth version, you end up again as mayor (or God) of a city. However, before becoming a real mayor and manage the city, you must first build it to be inhabited! Again, residential, commercial, industrial should be built. The novelties are numerous in Sim City 4!


    Roads

    First, the levels of roads, there are now streets, roads, highways (a greater variety of highway loop is also present), the bridges can now be built on top of something other than water (eg cliffs). When you place a construction zone and that the buildings were constructed, roads are automatically created for your convenience (you can change the route at your leisure later), a big plus! Moreover, in a passage of a train, motorists must wait until it has made its way before continuing their journey, the reality what!


    Transport

    We can now track any car in the city and see its movement. When entering the highway, cars accelerate. In addition, the speed of the car varies depending on the type of road. Little bug corrected, cars no longer disappear like in Sim City 3000. Side air planes leave the airport with a specific destination. We can now see the pollution generated in an airport, the number of aircraft operating and even the number of lost luggage at the airport !!!!! Real life, what! You can also see if the train is in charge of materials and reality extends to change the traffic lights yourself by clicking on a stand!


    Buildings

    In Sim City 4, there are buildings of three times, Chicago is 1890, New York 1940, Houston 2000. In total there are over 500 models of buildings, we can now build buildings on slopes and buildings are now facing the road. The houses are now separated from each other, so we can have several types of houses (with pool, no trees, etc..). The reality is more present, for example, if a building is in a poor area, the building will be dirtier, less welcoming! If the building is in an older neighborhood or older, the building will appear older. Another fact of life, when a sector is booming, heavy traffic and trucks are everywhere, in contrast, the signs are many for sale! The menu bar RCI (residential, commercial, industrial) is more complex. You can now enter the value for each type of construction, low, medium, high. There will now be two types of commercial areas, services to people (cinema, shopping, etc..) And offices (insurance, banking, etc..). Regarding agriculture, the harvest depends on the type of land where the farm is built, and agriculture now generates pollution, which was not the case in Sim City 3000. As for schools, we can place them all in the same area as was the case in the 3000 version because schools now have an impact on the neighborhood (school). The numbers of teachers and the number of students per class can be controlled in the fourth version of the game


    Police and Fire

    When asked the police presence or fire, we see them now arrive. When the police arrest a criminal, we can now watch the show! This is for all types of emergencies, you double-click on the vehicle and we can follow the action. Ditto for all other types of vehicles passing, whether plane, car, boat, train. We see firefighters move when there is a fire, in addition, each fire hydrant to a water boundary, where that limit is exhausted, he must find another hydrant. Criminals will be happy to rob homes if you have no police station in your city. In prisons, you can see the numbers of electric chairs (sic!) And projectors are activated at night.


    Life Sims

    Maxis is trying to join his two hit titles, or Sim City and The Sims allowing us to import our Sims. You can always create them via Sim City 4 and it can import or create up to five sims. We do not control the Sims, but they chose their points of origin and can track their movements around the city. You can rely on our Sims for the assessment of our city and act accordingly. Our Sims can move if their wage is higher or if they change jobs. Maxis pushes reality to make our Sims grow old and, if they live long enough, a second generation is born! The opinion of Sims is shown via a menu bar, you can have the opinion for the land it inhabits, traffic, environment, safety, education, health, etc.. Now there are cemeteries in Sim City 4 and cemeteries have a size proportional to the number of inhabitants of the city.


    Animals, Pollution

    The animals will be present in Sim City 4, giraffes, whales, rhinoceroses and other. Regarding agriculture, cows, horses and pigs, among other things, the game will be in addition, a hunting camp will be in the game as entertainment for our Sims. Regarding the pollution, four types are present in the game, either air, water, waste and radiation. Two dumps are present, one for waste Sims and the other for toxics.


    Weather, Disaster and time

    Like weather, there is lightning, meteorites, acid rain, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes. The game allows you to control the movement of the tornado, again, as indeed we find the weather fog and clouds. As disaster found the riots, fire, giant robots and clouds of locusts! The time is now a reality in Sim City, there is a cycle of 24 hours with day and night. Obviously, the lights are present in the night.


    Region, neighborhood and Budget

    I kept them for the end because it is my opinion, the greatest innovation of the game can FINALLY build other cities around ours because the city is part of a region! We can create different types of cities, for example, a suburb around the main city. Time does not advance in a city when there is not. It can also import and exchange cities via the Internet. You can modify the terrain is similar to that of a city to another, so if a river runs through two towns, whereas the river ends up square like in Sim City 3000, the game can change the terrain for more realism. The budget is also more complex, type of tax may vary from one industry to another depending on our preferences and can adjust the tax depending upon class of our population.








    The Gameplay

    But the news is not the only pledge for the success of a game the rest of the game worth the time? Yes, but ... Because there is a but. While the game is VERY VERY nice graphically and it is exciting to see all the realism when you're zooming loan in the heat of the action, but graphically it is very heavy and I pity those who need or want to play this game with the recommended setup. In the test configuration that is not bad, when you're zooming in 1280x1024 very ready, the game becomes very slow. I did not dare try in 1600x1200.

    After installation, you have two initiations, one allowing you to familiarize yourself with how to be mayor. Basically, it introduces you to the main commands of the various menus. The second initiation you will learn how to handle the various commands that enable you to make the playground, what you want (mountains, valleys, etc..). This initiative is certainly convenient, but boring very quickly. Indeed, we can work on more than one region simultaneously.

    When the principal is learned, it's time to fly on your own. You can go with a city already developed, or if you feel attacked, start building your own town. There are three areas available and the largest area is 16 times the area of small Plue, for those who are venturing for the first time in Sim City 4, it better with a box size modest. Therefore, with the initiatives being followed, we feel more confident, menus are easy to use, the buttons are easy to find and with the help of our advisors, we will be guided in what must. For there a. From the simple construction of the plant that you will have electricity in your city to the subway entrances and bus stops through the parks and playgrounds, fire stations and police stations, everything is there. Otherwise, fans of the series will meet soon in familiar territory, the 3 zones (residential, commercial and industrial) are to be built and good way to avoid any contamination to your people! For they will let you know if they are unhappy!

    You can import your favorite Sims games of famous or you can create new ones. You will receive a maximum of five sims and they will be very important. Indeed, their comments will be very useful to know what goes in your city and what needs improvement!

    At regional level, you can now build many cities around each other and so do business with them, because you'll quickly realize that you Simflouzes (money in the game) down perceptibly. While it is profitable at first, but once your Sims will ask the police station, fire department, hospitals, prisons, etc.., Money will continue to go down, so you have to find other sources of income. Thus, trade with neighboring cities will be automatically. Whether you sell them your electricity, water, that you offer to bury their waste, are all good ways to avoid falling into the red! And if unfortunately you have no means borrowing Simflouzes is at your own risk!

    A small charge that may be sent to Maxis, while you work so hard (!) To build a city, those around him fall into a "deep coma" if you will pardon the expression. In fact, when you work on a city, Montreal, for example, the town next door, we call Quebec for the purposes of the case falls off. Thus, the PC manages Quebec while you are in Montreal to give you the impression that everything is fine (eg trade). But as soon as you return to Quebec, it is in the state that you leave the last time. Thus, it is advisable to change the city several times so it is all at the same stage, it can quickly become tiresome.

    Conclusion

    In short, I like what I saw that the fourth episode. Of course, innovations are numerous, the graphics are superb and the system of regions for trade and the construction of several cities are Sim City 4 game with a lot again. However, graphics heavy and demanding PC concrete, makes some people lose all desire to play. By cons, anyone with a computer correct (Pentium 4 or Athlon XP + lots of RAM and good graphics card) it will give heart to joy and purists of the series will love the changes proposed in the game!


    Final score

    Chart: 18/20
    Simply beautiful, when we see loan zoom action is really happening in the city and with modes days and nights, the whole city becomes lit at dusk.

    Playability: 18/20
    Several new menu system and with the regions, the fun will be better. The review interface and menus are simple to use Sim City 4 a game where you spend long hours in front of your screen.

    Lifespan: 15/20
    Admittedly, life is long, but there is no multiplayer mode aside from being able to exchange maps. Certainly, we would have liked a bit more innovation on this side but the number of hours you can spend in front of your single player forgive the lack of a multiplayer mode.

    Audio: 16/20
    It is good without being exceptional. The small details were thought by Maxis and the music is random and varied.


    Overall rating: 17/20
    I answer the question I posed in the introduction. YES, the game is worth the cost. The changes proposed are numerous and varied and the Maxis team succeeds admirably to plunge us into action and build a city (and now regions) that its predecessor (SC3000) never succeeded in .

    1 comment:

    1. SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition includes the bestselling SimCity 4 and the all-new SimCity 4 Rush Hour Expansion Pack. Create the most massive region of cities.

      ReplyDelete